A major winter storm dumped a mix of snow, rain and ice pellets on large parts of Ontario on Tuesday, as Environment Canada warned of another possible storm still to come later in the week.
Freezing rain, heavy snow and possible flash floods were part of the forecast across parts of Ontario throughout Tuesday. Rainfall warnings were issued in southern Ontario, including Toronto, while large swathes of central and eastern Ontario were under snowfall warnings.
Meteorologists, meanwhile, already had their eye on the next blast of winter weather headed toward Ontario.
Rather than Tuesday’s messy mix of precipitation, the storm predicted to descend over Ontario on Friday was expected to bring mainly snow, said Trudy Kidd, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada
“I think people need to leave their winter boots out, leave their shovels out and stay tuned,” Kidd said in a phone interview.
Meanwhile, some of the heaviest snow during Tuesday’s storm was forecasted north of Peterborough, including Huntsville to areas around Greater Sudbury, where Environment Canada called for between 15 to 30 centimetres.
“Treacherous” driving conditions were possible on some of (the) main highways as gusting winds and heavy snow combined to create poor visibility and slick roads, Kidd said.
“People are really going to need to slow down, give themselves extra time to get where they’re going, and leave lots of space between their vehicle and the vehicle in front of them,” said Kidd.
Ottawa was predicted to deal with a mix of between 10 to 20 centimetres of snow on Tuesday changing over to “hours and hours” of freezing rain overnight, Kidd said.
“Their morning commute might not be ideal at all,” she said.
Toronto, Hamilton and other communities along Lake Ontario’s north shore were in for a mix of snow and rainfall of up to 35 millimetres before the storm tapered off later Tuesday evening.
Environment Canada had also placed stretches of southwestern Ontario, including Windsor and Niagara Falls, under a rainfall warning.
Ontario Provincial Police said Tuesday afternoon officers had responded to dozens of mostly minor collisions across the Greater Toronto Area.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2024.
